Justin Jackson: Clay-Battelle needed Aaron LaPoe, but his strength is knowing that feeling goes both ways

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

Nov. 3—MORGANTOWN — It may seem like, as the head coach of the Clay-Battelle football team, which is poised to finish with the school's highest-ever state ranking at No. 3 with a victory over Magnolia on Friday, that Aaron LaPoe is on the ride of his life these days.

Truth is, he's been there before, which begins a rather interesting insight into the type of man and coach he is today.

The year was 2014. Capital High had just ended a run of four consecutive state Class AAA state titles by Martinsburg and knocked off South Charleston, 55-15, for the state championship. LaPoe was the Cougars' offensive line coach at the time.

"I enjoyed it. A lot of other coaches, who were from the Charleston area, were rolling around on the ground and hugging each other, " said LaPoe, who is as Clay-Battelle as anyone can be, having set the state record for most career rushing attempts (961) during his playing time with the Cee-Bees from 2000-03. "I'm sitting there watching them. I served that community for a long time, but part of me was like, 'I'm ready to go back home and serve my community and coach the kids who grew up on the same streets and woods I grew up in.'"

Since the 2024 season, that's exactly what LaPoe has been doing. In just his second season, he has pulled off — so far — one of the more amazing seasons you'll find in any classification around the state.

On their way to an 8-1 record, the Cee-Bees have stepped up and beaten two Class AA schools. One of them, Oak Glen, is headed for the state playoffs. C-B also owns wins against two schools currently ranked in the top 10 in Class A.

How is that all possible ? Maybe it was Clay-Battelle longtime assistant Kent Saul who put it best.

"We needed him, " Saul said. The "him " obviously being LaPoe.

The issue ? None of it seems to bring any joy to the head coach. Behind the scenes, sure, LaPoe is laughing and celebrating with his guys. To just about everyone else, he is calm and collected. He's a poker player, a good one, and unless you are a referee who just made a bad call, you never really know what's running through LaPoe's mind.

"Sometimes I get the feeling that (the media) wants me to be like Muhammad Ali or something and say outrageous things, " he said. "That's not me."

Ask anyone around the Blacksville area, LaPoe is a hero of sorts. He's in as good a graces as any head coach at any level could possibly be. He is the big man on campus again, except this time it's as a head coach and a special education teacher at the school — he was also a science teacher at C-B at one time — rather than the star player.

That statement is brought up to LaPoe, that there were dozens of fans and parents waiting outside the school's football facility to congratulate him after the Cee-Bees 16-8 victory against Oak Glen last Friday.

He shrugged it off.

"That doesn't matter to me at all, " LaPoe said. "I care about those gentlemen over there (his assistant coaches) that I coach with. I really am into community service, but to me, how our players have been successful this season is by being tough and not quitting and leading each other.

"Braden Ponceroff has been a symbol to this team. He was the one who got everyone into the weight room. There's a lot of leadership from the players in that locker room. It has nothing to do with me."

It has nothing to do with LaPoe, that's where so many would disagree, but it's a statement truly made from his heart.

And it is a way of thinking that goes all the way back to LaPoe's days as an assistant coach at Capital under the leadership of head coach Jon Carpenter.

"If you go back and look at some of the old state playoff programs, where they're supposed to have the picture of the head coach, Jon Carpenter had Tony Harris' picture in there rather than his own, " LaPoe told the story. "He didn't sit in the front center of the team picture. He was off to the side. I would ask him all the time about that.

"There are a lot of great head coaches out there, but there are a lot of bad guys out there, too. There are a lot of head coaches with big egos and I don't think that's a road for long-term success. Kids don't want to play for coaches like that."

LaPoe's kids at C-B are now playing at a level maybe no one saw coming. That's the part he cherishes, because it was never a level LaPoe got to experience at that age.

Sure, he racked up yards, touchdowns and records, but in four years with the Cee-Bees, LaPoe never played in a single state playoff game.

"I was fooling myself when I was a senior in high school, " he said. "I wasn't half the leader Ponceroff is. I thought I could do it all by myself and I couldn't. These kids have figured out they need each other. They figured out that lesson a lot younger than I did."

LaPoe may never admit it, but the program and the players needed him, too. It's definitely a two-way street that has marked the Cee-Bees road of success this season. LaPoe probably thinks his side of that road is rather small, but it isn't.

"Our kids won that game, not me, " LaPoe said. "I got to play a part, but I'm just one of 10 coaches on the staff. I've got some wise men in there who help me call plays and run a defense. I'm just a piece of this whole thing."

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos